Words to pages calculator
How many pages is your book, how many chapters should it have, and how long will it take to read? Enter a word count.
Short answer
At about 250 words per manuscript page (double-spaced, 12 pt) page, 50,000 words is about 200 pages; as a typical printed book at about 275 words a page it is about 182 pages. Page counts depend on font, margins and trim size, so treat them as estimates.
- Pages
- 200
- Chapters (typical)
- 15–35
- Words per chapter
- ~2,000
- Reading time
- 3 h 30 min
50,000 words is within the usual range for a novel (40,000–109,999 words). Words per chapter assumes 25 chapters; reading time assumes 238 words a minute.
Words to pages at a glance
| Words | Manuscript page (double-spaced, 12 pt) | Printed book page (typical) | Reading time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 4 pages | 4 pages | 4 min |
| 10,000 | 40 pages | 36 pages | 42 min |
| 50,000 | 200 pages | 182 pages | 3.5 h |
| 80,000 | 320 pages | 291 pages | 5.6 h |
| 100,000 | 400 pages | 364 pages | 7.0 h |
- Manuscript page (double-spaced, 12 pt): Reedsy: 1,000 words is about 4 pages double-spaced in 12 pt Times New Roman.
- Typed page (single-spaced, 12 pt): Reedsy: single-spaced, 1,000 words is about 2 pages.
- Printed book page (typical): Midpoint of the 250–300 words per page that Kindlepreneur gives for traditionally published books; Reedsy rounds a book page to roughly 300. Trim size, font, margins and chapter breaks can move this a lot.
- Printed novel page: Kindlepreneur survey of 900+ authors about their books on Amazon: 280 words per page on average for fiction.
- Printed nonfiction page: Same Kindlepreneur survey: 233 words per page on average for nonfiction.
Typical book lengths
| Book type | Words | Chapters | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flash fiction | 5–1,500 | 1–1 | Reedsy: usually 5 to 1,000 words, topping out at 1,500. |
| Short story | 1,000–7,499 | 1–1 | SFWA Nebula rules: fewer than 7,500 words. Below about 1,000–1,500 words it is usually called flash fiction (Reedsy). |
| Novelette | 7,500–17,499 | 1–5 | SFWA Nebula rules: at least 7,500 but fewer than 17,500 words. |
| Novella | 17,500–39,999 | 5–12 | SFWA Nebula rules: at least 17,500 but fewer than 40,000 words. |
| Novel | 40,000–109,999 | 15–35 | SFWA counts 40,000 words or more as a novel. For a debut adult novel, Writer's Digest calls 80,000–89,999 the safe range and 71,000–109,999 the total range; Reedsy gives 70,000–100,000. |
| Epic, science fiction or fantasy novel | 100,000–140,000 | 20–45 | Writer's Digest and Reedsy both give 100,000–115,000 words for science fiction and fantasy, which run long because of world-building. Writer's Digest calls up to about 124,000 probably all right; Reedsy puts the upper end for novels around 140,000 and notes some fantasy series books go past it. |
| Memoir | 70,000–90,000 | 15–35 | For a book aimed at publishers: Writer's Digest says aim for 80,000–89,999 like a novel, and that coming in a little low (70,000–79,999) is not a problem. Jane Friedman calls 80,000 the industry standard for narrative nonfiction and warns that well over 100,000 invites rejection. |
| Nonfiction / how-to | 50,000–80,000 | 10–25 | Reedsy gives 50,000–80,000 words for nonfiction and notes length depends on subject: self-help usually runs shorter than, say, anthropology. Jane Friedman: information-based nonfiction varies a lot, but high word counts raise a red flag with publishers. |
| Family legacy book | 15,000–50,000 | 5–15 | There is no publishing standard: a family book is made for relatives, not a bookstore shelf. This is a planning range only, e.g. 50 short stories of 300–1,000 words each. |
Frequently asked questions
- How many pages is 50,000 words?
- About 200 pages as a double-spaced manuscript and about 182 pages as a printed book. Font size, margins and trim size can change this noticeably.
- How many words is a 300-page book?
- Roughly 82,500 words for a printed book at about 275 words per page, or 75,000 words as a double-spaced manuscript.
- How long does it take to read 80,000 words?
- About 6 hours at an average silent reading pace of 238 words per minute.
- Why do different calculators give different page counts?
- Pages are not a fixed unit. Manuscript pages (12-point, double-spaced) hold fewer words than a typeset book page, and hardcovers, trade paperbacks and mass-market paperbacks all differ. Word count is the number editors and publishers use.
Plan my book's chapters
Your first AI chapter is free.
Sources
- SFWA, Nebula Rules (word counts for short story, novelette, novella, novel) (checked 2026-09-24)
- Reedsy, How Many Pages is 1,000 Words? A Thorough Account (checked 2026-09-24)
- Kindlepreneur (Dave Chesson), How Many Words Per Page In a Book? Amazon Stats + Survey (checked 2026-09-24)
- Writer's Digest (Chuck Sambuchino), Word Count for Novels and Children's Books: The Definitive Post (checked 2026-09-24)
- Reedsy, How Many Words in a Novel? (checked 2026-09-24)
- Reedsy, What is Flash Fiction? (checked 2026-09-24)
- Jane Friedman, How to Write a Query Letter: Nonfiction and Memoir (checked 2026-09-24)
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047 (checked 2026-09-24)
Keep reading
- How Long Is a Novel? Word Counts by Category and GenreA novel starts at 40,000 words, but most debuts land between 70,000 and 100,000. Here are the categories, genre ranges and page math.
- How Long Is a Memoir? Word Counts, Page Counts and Chapter LengthPublished memoirs usually run 70,000–90,000 words. Family books have no rule. Here are the ranges, the page math and how long each chapter should be.
- How Many Chapters Should a Book Have? Typical Ranges by Book TypeThere's no fixed number, but there is simple math. Typical chapter counts and lengths by book type, with real examples and a way to decide yours.